close links

(1) (in relation to MiFID business or in FUND) a situation in which two or more persons are linked by:

(a) participation in the form of211 ownership, direct or by way of control, of 20% or more of the voting rights or capital of an undertaking;

(b) control which means the relationship between a parent undertaking and a subsidiary, in all the cases referred to in article 22(1) and (2) of the Accounting Directive211, or a similar relationship between any person and an undertaking, any subsidiary undertaking of a subsidiary undertaking also being considered to be211 a subsidiary of the parent undertaking which is at the head of those undertakings.

(c) a permanent link of both or all of them to the same person by a control relationship.211

(2) (except where (1) applies and except in SUP 3 (Auditors) and SUP 4 (Actuaries)) (in accordance with paragraph 3(2) in Schedule 6 to the Act (Close links)) the relationship between a person ("A") and another person ("CL") which exists if:

(e) CL owns or controls 20% or more of the voting rights or capital of A; or

(f) A owns or controls 20% or more of the voting rights or capital of CL.

(3) (in SUP 3 (Auditors) and SUP 4 (Actuaries)) (in accordance with section 343(8) of the Act (Information given by auditor or actuary to a regulator: persons with close links)) the relationship in (2), disregarding (e) and (f).